


Not a sunrise but a galaxy rise

by FutileUnicorn



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Alternate Canon, Attempt at a realistic mass effect world, Attempt at novelization, Biotics, F/M, Female Ryder Twins, Liberal use of headcanon, ME;A fix it fic, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-02-23 19:54:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13197414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FutileUnicorn/pseuds/FutileUnicorn
Summary: Valentina Harlow and Amelia Ryder travel to the Andromeda Galaxy in their father's shadow, then everything goes to hell and they're left to figure it all out for themselves.  Valentina becomes the pathfinder and Amelia her second. Entrusted with the lives of thousands they're given a ship and told to bring everybody home but first, they'll have to find it.*Chapters one & two re-written*





	1. In this sleep of dream, what dreams may come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To die, to sleep,  
> To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there's the rub,  
> for in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,  
> when we have shuffled off this mortal coil,  
> must give us pause.  
> ~ William Shakespeare

Valentina Ryder had had a plan. Not a very detailed or well structured one, but a plan for her life nonetheless. It went a little something like this; graduate Grissom Academy as one of the first and best biotics in its history (check) change her name from Ryder (check,) head for the arse end of the galaxy where no-one knew her. Where there was no-one to say “Hey, aren’t you Alec’s daughter.” Make a name for herself. Her own name, not her father’s. (Check) Become rich and famous and retire early to live a life of luxury and hedonism...or something like that. It was at that point where the plan got a little fuzzy. But the point was there was a plan and nowhere in it did it say leave the galaxy. Especially not leave the galaxy on Alec’s Ryder’s fucking team. 

Yet here she was. She couldn’t quite decide if this was terrible, awful decision or the best one of her life. Point in favour; Whole new galaxy. Like brand new, a real chance to write her name in the history books. So many chances in fact. Solar Dust mercenary group could be re-born, the first and best security team in Andromeda. Like the Blue Suns but better, less bloodthirsty and more of a robin hood type group. Screw the old system and help the underdogs. That was the dream. But to get to that dream required her to jump through some hoops. Which lead to point against; becoming part of the Pathfinder team, answering to Alec. Not even as his second but just a junior member. Like some untested new recruit. Like she hadn’t been leading her own team in the fucking Terminus Systems for the last six years. That chafed. 

Of course, there was no point worrying about the decision now. The quiet hum of the ship was the only sound she can hear. No talking, no footsteps, no breathing, no life. Everybody was asleep, technically so should she be. But she supposed getting to be the second to last person to sleep was the way Alec made up for giving her only two months notice that she was signed up to leave the galaxy. She'd wanted to be angry about that but they both knew she'd never had said no. She'd wouldn't have been able to live with herself if she'd passed up on this chance, to be the first wave of humanity into the unknown. It was one of the many things she had in common with Alec. Another thing to add to the list of things she disliked about herself. Her inability to be content with what she had, her drive to always be experiencing something new.

She hadn’t even had enough time to meet everybody on the Pathfinder team. She’s only gotten to meet Cora Harper, Alec’s second. Within the first couple of minutes of that meeting, she’d known exactly why Harper had been chosen as Alec’s second. Alec couldn’t have someone questioning him, thinking for themselves and Harper wasn’t in any danger of that. 

The others on the team she knew by name and picture only. Liam Kosta, security officer. The guy in the weapon handling training video they’d forced her to watch. Fisher and Hayes, their pilots. Greer and Kirkland, general military grunts. Herself, recon specialist and Amelia Ryder as on the ground science officer. Her twin sister. The sister she hadn’t seen in six years and had barely spoken to in that time. Entirely her own fault, of course, she’d been the one to run away. But now they had that uncomfortable awkwardness of talking to somebody who used to know all your secrets and yet now could barely pick you out of a lineup. Another regrets to add to the list, but hopefully, one she could leave behind in the milky way. Andromeda was a change to fix everybody that was wrong with the world. Both her worlds and the world in general. They just had to get there first. 

Taking a deep breath she faced her pod, heart pounding in her chest strongly enough she was sure if she looked down she be able to see it. 

"Miss Harlow, it is time to enter stasis." The AI’s voice sounded from above, not quite human but something close. Closer than anything the milky way had at least. Valentina fancied she could hear her mother in it despite the male tone. But it was a poor substitute, something else she’d left in the milky way. They’d buried her mother without even telling her she was sick. She understood it was her mother’s decision; Ellen had always understood what her freedom meant to her, but the loss was fresh and painfully deep in her chest when she thought of it. 

"Give us a minute Sam" A male voice came from behind her and she felt her muscles tense. 

"Of course Pathfinder"

Valentina forced out a deep breath willing her muscles into relaxing as Alec came to stand at her side He stood a foot and a few inches taller than her, and despite not being a physically imposing man had a presence that seem to take up much more space than his body did. It made her want to shrink even smaller than her five-foot frame, to sink back into the familiar role of commanding officer and soldier. Not that she’d ever been a soldier, but they’d never really been father or daughter either. Not in the way that Valentina had seen her friends have fathers. 

Valentina didn't hate her father. She wanted to at times. When she remembered summers spent at shooting ranges, hand to hand combat lesson and doing assault courses until their legs gave out. But she couldn’t. Everything she was, she owed to him and he was her father. She loved him, and that rebellious buried part of her was still as desperate for his approval as she had been at ten years old. 

"Any regrets?" The sound of her own voice surprised her, she wasn't aware she was even going to speak let alone ask something like that. Next, to her Alec let out a short bitter laugh.

"Too many to count..." Valentina didn’t know what to do with that. She’d never imagine him regretting anything. Never really imagined him having emotions if she was honest. He occupied some role of minor god in her brain, all-powerful, never making mistakes. 

"Well….I guess they stay behind then. A new galaxy means we get to make all new mistakes, and have all new regrets." She suggested with a grin, voice full of a cheer she didn’t really feel as she contemplated the pod in front of her. Shaking his head Alec reached out and hit the button to open the pod, placing an arm on her shoulder as he turned to leave. 

"Get to sleep. When you wake up the real work begins." 

“Wait,” Valentina swore in her head as the word left her, looking away from Alec as he turned back to face her and swiping a hand over her face. Screwing up her eyes and steeling herself from the self-hatred was bound to follow she forced the next words out. 

“Will you stay..while I go under?” She felt like a child, scared of the dark and needing her father to drive the monsters away. But the thought of getting into that pod was the first thing that had terrified her in a long time. 600 years was a long time, and all the safety they had was an AI. Alec stared at her for a long moment, expression unreadable.

“Of course.” He finally replied, gesturing to the pod with one hand as he came to stand beside it. 

“I’ll be right here I promise.” Val let out a long breath, squaring her shoulders as she forced shaking limbs to climb inside. Fighting down the flare of biotics that wanted to flood from her as Alec closed the lid trapping her inside. She forced her head back against the rest, eyes straight ahead as she felt the needles pierce through to her veins, the chemicals to make her sleep already being administered. True to his word Alec stood in front of her pod and she found herself staring at him. They had the same eyes. It had always annoyed her she thought vaguely as the haze of sleep started to set in. Alec raised a hand in goodbye, a small smile on his face as the countdown started.

“Ten, nine, eight, seve…..”


	2. Stars, hide your fires

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stars, hide your fires;  
> Let not light see my black and deep desires.  
> The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be  
> Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.  
> ~ William Shakespeare

"Six, five, four, three" Sam's voice counted down steadily, sounding from all around Valentina's pod. She forced her body into stillness, closing her eyes on her father’s face and reminding herself it was far too late to do anything about the panic building inside her chest. As Sam hit one, she blinked. Took a deep breath. And started to choke. 

The air was like ice in her lungs, they screamed as she forced air into them. Her body felt like it had been carved from ice. Pins and needles crawled all over her limbs as they twitched painfully in response to her panic. The door to her pod swung open. She threw herself through it, biotics flaring to lift her up and out. Collapsing onto the metal floor of the ship. As she forced air into her resisting lungs, she realised two things. One; she hadn’t just thrown herself into Alec, so he must have left and since she hadn’t seen him leave she must have already been frozen. Meaning they’d made it, or at least she’d been asleep for a period of time. Two; there were two alarmed looking medtech staff a few feet from her staring wide-eyed at her glowing form. Forcing herself to stillness and squashing her biotics back down in submission, she sat back onto her haunches and raised her hands, palms open in surrender.

"They didn't mention that in the advertisements. The worst ice bath in existence." She said with a chuckle that turned into another coughing fit. The medtech staff exchanged unsure glances, neither wanting to get too close to the panicky biotic and Valentina had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. If she wanted to rip them apart, a few feet of distance wasn't going to stop her. She pushed herself to her feet, swaying as the blood rushed to her head, only just managing to repress her biotics as she sought to steady herself.

"Valentina." Now that has a welcome voice. Pushing past the medtech staff with a glare Dr Harry Carlyle grasped her arm holding her steady. She clung to him in return, the familiar face helping to calm her. A friend of her father's, she’s known Harry since she was a child. If he was here and he was calm, they were safe. They had really made it.

"Take it easy, deep slow breaths."

"We made it Harry. I have to admit I kinda expected to die to deep space."

"Ever the optimist.” Harry chuckled. 

“Come on, let's get you something warm to drink." Keeping a tight hold on her arm, Harry led her through into the medbay proper. It was a hive of activity. Medtechs roamed around checking over the newly awakened pathfinder team. Some of the faces she passed she knew. She passed one of the pilots; Sara Hayes she remembers, at one of the info screens bouncing on her feet and rubbing her hands together, already in full armour. Further down in the bay she could pick out the other pilot, David Fisher looking worse than she felt.

Harry pushed her towards one of the beds and pulled up his omnitool, already running scans on her system if the warm pulsing she could feel coming from his direction was anything to go on. A passing medtech handed her a mug of something hot and spicy, although she was pretty sure she could smell something medical underneath that. She drank it anyway, the heat thawing some of the ice in her veins. 

"There is no ice present in your bloodstream Miss Harlow" Sam voice sounded a few seconds before his blue orb of an avatar popped into existence over the computer system. Valentina rolled her eyes at it, unsure if the AI could see her but knowing it would feel the intent behind it.

"Well, we know your implant is working. Sam is correct, all your vitals look good. Biotics are functioning correctly. You are physically fit for duty. How do you feel?" Harry dropped the tablet he’d been typing her results into, choosing instead to watch her face as he waited for an answer, daring her to lie to him. She was reminded of being a young child standing in his office with a steam burn she had quite clearly not received in her back garden as she's told her mother. She shrugged.

"Cold. Pretty much. I just feel cold."

"That'll pass. Your dads called all the pathfinder team to be ready in ten minutes, you best go get suited and booted." He gestured towards the bay door and turned away from her, heading back towards the cryo bay area when a deep rumble sound came from below them. The whole ship seemed to shudder for a moment, lights flickering, then the room tilted violently to the side throwing everybody to the floor as a metallic scraping sound filled the cabin. The light cut out just as the gravity failed, casting the room into an eerie half-light as Valentina floated upwards. Twisting herself in the air until she was relatively upright, Valentina glanced around the room unsure of what to do. Across from her Kosta spun rapidly in circles, an experience he didn't seem to be enjoying from what she could see of his green sheened face.

The voice of Captain Dunn came over the radio demanding updates, and what seems like a hundred voices answered her, making it hard to pick out any status in particular. Moments later the bay door opened as Harper floated in, half dragging herself across the room and half biotically swimming through the air. Valentina had a moment of envy for her biotic control before she hit the reset, sending half the room tumbling down onto the floor.

"Everybody okay?" Harper called out, a chorus of agreements sounded as Valentina pulled an Asari doctor to her feet. The Asari gasped as she stood to full height wide eyes staring at something over her shoulder.

"Doctor Carlyle, Doctor T'Perro we have a problem over here." Valentina turned, seeing a pod covered in what looked like burn marks sparking with electric. "It's Amelia Ryder." The tech had barely finished his sentence before Valentina was racing over to the pod, Harper and the Asari hot on her heels. Carlyle beat them to it by a second, catching Valentina wrist as she went to touch the pod. 

"What happened? Is Amelia okay?" She demanded, rounding on Harry.

"Vital's are strong" The Asari; she assumed to be the Doctor T'Perro spoke, omnitool scanning the pod.

"The revival procedure was interrupted." Harry this time, he looked troubled but not upset, which eased some of Valentina's panic.

"Well, rerun it. Get her out of there." She gestured to the pod, feeling anxious on her sister's behalf as she imagined by trapping inside one of those things.

"It's not quite that simple. She's going to need to do this the natural way."

"The natural way?! She's cryogenically frozen in another galaxy, there's nothing natural about this!" She snapped, feeling the familiar tingle of biotic energy start at her fingertips. Like static electricity, if static made people afraid of you. 

"Control Valentina.” Harper cautioned her, eyeing her sparking fingers. 

“She'll be fine, it will just take a little while longer than expected." Valentina opened her mouth to argue when Harper placed a restraining hand on her arm. Her grip was tight as she started to pull Valentina away. 

"Thank you, keep us updated. Ryder, your father's called us all to the bridge." Pulling her arm from Harper's grasp she glared at everyone surrounding the pod before stalking away to meet her father.

“It’s Harlow. Not Ryder.” She threw over her shoulder.

\-----

"When people look back on this–and they will–they'll remember we didn't give up. We kept dreaming that our first, few faltering steps in Andromeda were the beginning of everything they know. We only get one chance to be first. So let's go make history." For all her father's faults, he knew how to make a speech. The team around her seemed to grow a couple of inches taller, all puffed up with pride in themselves. Valentina rolled her shoulders bouncing on her toes as she waited for the speech to finish. 

She wanted to be out there, to be doing this. All the panic from before her sleep and the new gnawing anxiety in her chest at her sister's current state swirled in her gut, filling her with a restless overwhelming energy that made her want to scream or punch something. Just be doing something that wasn’t standing around listening to speeches, historic as they made end up. 

"Been waiting 600 years for this." Kosta punched her shoulder as the group broke up, grinning at her with almost the same manic energy she could feel vibrating through her. She shook her head in response with a laugh that was only a little forced. 

"I've seen you in training vids Kosta. 100 credits you're the first to die." Whatever response he was about to make he swallowed, eyes on something behind her. She turned and found herself facing Alec. He had that strained uncomfortable look he got whenever he was about to talk about anything remotely emotional and she mentally braced herself for the conversation neither of them would enjoy.

"I heard about your sister."

"Your daughter. Amelia if you forgot. We're all related you know."

"Are we Miss Harlow?" his tone was sarcastic and slightly offended; the tone she was used to hearing from him, before he sighed, shaking his head. Perhaps feeling the same tiredness she felt at their interactions, 600 years and still don’t know how to exist in the same space without driving each other crazy. Too much alike, Ellen had always said. 

"She's grown a lot since you've been gone. She was handpicked for the archives you know?” Shaking his head, he gave her a rueful look. “You’ve both grown. Amelia’s going to be fine. I don’t have to worry about either of you anymore.” A pause; during which she mentally adjusted her world view to include the fact Alec had ever worried about her. A fact she didn’t know how to deal with. Alec raised a hesitant hand, letting it hover over her shoulder for a minute, as though he expected her to biotically throw him across the room. When no biotics flared, he clapped her on the shoulder squeezing in a way she was sure he meant to be comforting but instead making her shoulder ache. "You can't let it throw you off. I need you on top of your game for this."

"I’m always on the top of my game.” She replied always automatically, a get the look in return. She grinned, falling into the familiar patterns of their relationship.  
“I got the message to arm up. Something you're not telling us?"

"Preparing for all outcomes. In truth, I have no idea what we're about to find down there."

"It's not a golden world, that's for damn sure." Alec shook his head, a small smile on his face before leaning in to whisper conspiratorially. 

"That's what makes it fun." Valentina let out a bark of startled laughter as Alec walked away to board his ship. She's forgotten how similar they were, both needing to be out there on the front lines, pushing the boundaries, unable to ever be content with what they had. She turned to board her own shuttle, lingering a second or two on the threshold to stare back in the rough direction of her sister. Something like guilt crawling along her spine at doing this without her, before she pushed herself up and into the shuttle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter shall be Habitat 7 and some actual action will happen. This chapter got away from me a little so i figured it would be better to break it down rather than end up posting a 4000 word chapter!


	3. Backs and Blood and Bone

The Hyperion hung wreathed in the strange orange phenomenon tendrils of something wrapped around its hull and clung, sparking at the slightest movement. Valentina could see scorch marks trailed along its sides, larger versions of the ones she'd seen on Amelia's pod in the cyrobay. Major electrical damage they'd said. Could this truly be electrical? Electricity made solid in some way? The way it branched and spread across the sky reminded her of creeper vines back on earth, but it wasn't natural she was sure of it. Something like this they would have seen in the scans, 600 years isn't enough time for this to grow into existence.

"Wow, will you look at that?" Kosta was almost pressed against the glass of the shuttle window trying to see the true extent of the phenomenon, his tone a mix of horrified awe.

"Not what I was expecting that's for sure. I was thinking you know, sandy beaches and wide open plains. Maybe a literal landing party with little hats and everything." Kosta laughed turning to face her as they flew away from the ship, turning towards the planet that should have been theirs. The shuttle shook as it accelerated making Valentina grab the handrail next to her head, swaying with the turbulence.

"Wait till we get to the Nexus, that's where the party will be. We'll be the heroes of the hour, securing a new world."

"Know something I don't Kosta? That place doesn't exactly look like the brochure. Habitat 7 currently has the markers of a tropical paradise." Valentina put on her best attempt at the Scottish accent of the girl from the promotional videos they'd all been sold. "Tropical paradise my arse looks more like a death planet. New Tuchanka maybe.”

"Beginning our declaration. The planet’s dead ahead." Fisher's voice cuts in as the shuttle lurches, the view outside the windows turning to flame as they started to enter the atmosphere of seven. shuttle shaking violently. Valentina huffed out a nervous breath, stepping backwards until she was flush with the shuttle walls and bracing herself. She'd always hated flying when she wasn't in one of the pilot seats. As they hit the planet's sky the windows cleared and Valentina found herself looking at mountains. Floating mountains hovering in the sky next to them.

"Shuttle two are you seeing this?" A female voice over the intercom that it took Valentina a moment to identify as Harper, not Hayes.

"Yeah, we're not in Kansas anymore."

"Uh, the mountains are floating…" Liam turned to stare wide-eyed and slacked jawed at Valentina then Greer behind them. "They're floating!"

"Look! Port side!" Valentina wiped her head round body tense at Fisher's shout, half expecting dragons. Instead, she found a strange structure built into the surface of the planet. Far taller than anything she'd expect to find, the work of an advanced species. Not one just started out. How had their scans been so wrong?

"Shit. Do you think anybody's seen us?" She queried into her mouthpiece, eyes scanning the structure for signs of life, not feeling particularly relieved when she found none.

"Hyperion, this is the Pathfinder. We’ve got evidence of an alien civilisation."

"What if they’re not friendly? "

"We stick to contact protocol: no use of deadly force unless hostile intent is clear. " Valentina opened her mouth to query what counted as clear hostile intent but before she could make a sound the shuttle lurched dramatically, throwing Kosta into the shuttle window and slamming her back into the wall of the shuttle. She tightened her grip on the handhold, her other hand raising automatically to check the seals on her helmet as she heard Kirkland start issuing an SOS.

"Kosta hold..." The rest of her sentence was ripped away by the sudden wind as a something struck the shuttle exploding the side door clear off and dragging everything not nailed down out of the shuttle. Kosta lost his feet, and pulled by the wind roaring around the cabin was pulled almost completely out of the shuttle. Catching himself on the door by the tips of his fingers. Valentina shot out a hand calling his name, biotics flaring as she prepared to pull him back inside when another bolt hit the shuttle and she felt the floor fall from underneath her.

In the air, she twisted just enough to watch the two ends of the shuttle fall apart. She couldn't see Kosta or Greer as she fell. Only bits of mountain rushing past. Biotics flared without being called. Wrapping her in a pulsing blue light as she fought to slow her progress. The attempts hindered by her struggle to orientate herself as she fell, spinning in the air and missing the floating rocks by inches in places as the ground rapidly came up to greet her.

With a burst of biotics, she managed to slow herself enough that she hit the ground and tumbled painfully across the surface. A better landing than becoming a human pancake in her opinion but not the best entrance she'd ever made. As she came to a stop she lay face up staring at the sky she'd just fallen out of. winded, dazed and only sure she was actually still alive by the pain radiating from seemly all of her body.

"Shit."

Forcing air into her protesting lungs Valentina dragged herself upright, staggering slightly as she spun 360. Plants that looked more like tentacles reached almost to her hips and dead looking shrubs with bare pale limbs dominated the landscape. Giving in to her curiosity she found a small rock on the ground and tossed it at the tentacle plant, disappointingly it failed to recoil or move at all. Just a plant. Raising her omnitool she pulled up the radio scanning through the channels to try to find a working signal.

"This is Valentina. SAM? Dad? Anyone there? " Her attempts met only static.

"Save your breath. SAM’s offline. Comm link’s trashed. I’m surprised we aren’t too." Spinning to face Kosta as he jogged into view she dropped her arm letting out a breath was half relief at Kosta's survival and half frustration at their almost hopeless situation. Reaching out she clapped him on the shoulder.

"Well, you're alive at least. Seen any sign of the others?"

"I don’t know. It was all a blur. Shuttle split in two… this is like some nightmare." Letting out a huff of agreement she followed his gaze out over their golden world. Floating rocks filling the sky and lightning strikes seemed to be falling constantly. How could one planet change so much in 600 years? Something terrible must have happened here, something unnatural. All she could hope was whatever had caused it had moved on and wasn't still roaming around the planet. Suppressing a shiver at the thought she turned and began following the only path open to them

"Well let's go see what we can find."

\----------

"That's our shuttle....half of it anyway. And Fisher!" Kosta exclaimed hurrying past her towards the burning wreckage of Shuttle two. Valentina followed him slowly, eyes scanning the scene. Something seemed wrong about this. Seconds later she spotted it and threw herself forwards jerking Kosta back down and into cover. Placing a finger on her helmet she pointed towards the front of their shuttle. Two creatures were scavenging around it. Tall, bulky, armoured, and armed. Matching no species she was familiar with.

"Think we found the natives." She whispered peering over the rocky outcrop. Fisher seemed to have the same bad feeling she did and had hidden as best he could behind a fallen supply crate.

"Holy shit. What was first contact protocol again?"

"No use of deadly force until hostile intent is clear." She quoted her father, wishing she'd had a chance to ask what counted as clear hostile intent before everything went to shit. She never thought she'd be in a first contact situation and wasn't relishing the unexpected privilege. Beside her, Kosta snorted.

"Yeah, said no one in the field ever. How do we handle it?"

"We get one attempt at this Kosta, play it cool yeah?..."

"Yeah, and Fisher gets shot in the head if we’re wrong." Liam grumbled, hands tensing around his weapon. Valentina exhaled a long breath, raising her gaze to the sky as her mind raced through various plans.

"Okay, okay. here's the plan. I'm going out there unarmed and we'll see if these guys wanna talk. You stay here and cover Fisher, if they start getting violent you protect him okay."

"Are you insane?! If they start shooting you won't have time to unholster your weapon before you get shot."

Valentina raised a brow, clenching her fist to make her biotics flare. "Biotic remember? I am a weapon. Now, get ready." Steeling herself she stood, raising her hands up near her head as she stepped around the rocks and started towards the shuttle. She could hear Kosta swear behind her and hoped she hadn't made a terrible miscalculation. It wouldn't be the first time. A few feet away from the rock the Aliens spotted her, the one closest to her stepping forwards and yelling something in a guttural language.

"My name is Valentina Harlow, designation A-03-Malapa from the ship Hyperion. We crashed here. We don't mean any harm." As she spoke the other alien found Fisher grabbing his arm and dragged him out from behind the crate. She tensed eyes flicking between the two aliens, hardly breathing as she waited.

"Niad shurid! Gosad!"

"Harlow!" Fisher cried out as he spotted her. the alien stood over him reacted to his shout bringing the butt of its rifle down against his head with a hard crack. As it raised the rifle again Valentina swept out her hand, biotics flaring as she sent a wave of energy flying out catching the alien and throwing him back against the mountain. Then all hell broke loose. The one in front of her reacted quicker than she’d expected, already firing as Valentina dropped gracelessly to the ground, attempting to crawl and unholster her weapon at the same time. Behind her, Kosta started returning fire. The alien didn't seem to feel it, not pausing in its assault.

Swearing repeatedly as she finally got hold of her gun, she spent a second wishing she had any real talent for shooting. As Kosta paused to reload she pushed herself to her feet aiming blindly and ran. Heading for Fisher and cover. Her bullets almost seemed to bounce off its armour when they hit, more an annoyance than a threat. It turned towards her as Kosta opened fire again, either luck or skill on their side as his shot caught it's neck cutting through and sending a spray of dirty green blood through the air as it crumpled to the ground.

"Shit." Valentina laughed in relief, leaning forward to rest her hands on her legs as she caught her breath. "Travel to new worlds, meet new aliens. Kill them. We were scammed! this is nothing like the brochure."

"Fisher, you okay?" Kosta jogged towards them, grabbing Fisher's arm and attempting to help him to his feet. Fisher swore leg giving out under him as he landed back on his arse.

"My leg, I think it’s broken. Kirkland and Greer went looking for help. I'll be okay here. You guys push ahead and look for everybody else."

Kosta shifted uneasily, eyes scanning the horizon before falling to the bodies of the two alien creatures.

"You sure? Could be more."

"Yeah. Just find us a ride out of here. And take a few more of them out while you’re at it." Valentina shrugged as Kosta met her eyes. Not much they could do for him here and splitting up so one of them could stay behind with him was pretty much a death sentence for the other. As Kosta busied himself helping Fisher to a more hidden and defensible location, Valentina wandered over to the alien she'd thrown against the mountain. Her scans told her nothing useful without SAM to translate them but it might come in handy later. Their armour looked almost organic, like a Turians but far more effective. Still breakable through she mused trying not the look at the mess her biotics had made of the creatures head as she'd thrown it. They bleed, they die, aim for the head for the looks of it. That's all she really needed to know.

"Ready?" She asked gripping her pistol and turning back towards Kosta. He nodding falling into step beside her with a troubled look.

"I hope the other team’s okay."

"They have Alec. They'll be fine. We’ll find them. But we might want to scout around first."

"You’re the Recon Specialist—point the way."

"SOS on frequency 154.3. Anyone there?" Cora's voice broke through the stillness as the pair carefully picked their way through the unforgiving terrain attempting to stay out of the way of the frequent lightning strikes that Valentina had discovered could drop shields in one hit.

"We read you, Harper. What's your location?"

"Sending up flares now. We’ve got shuttle repairs underway, but we're being surrounded!”

"They're not friendly, aim for the head and shoulders. We're on our way." Quickly scrambling towards the falling red lights they reached the survivors as the shooting started. Kosta threw himself into the fray, assault rifle spraying a hail of bullets in front of him, Valentina strafed to the side taking cover behind some rocks as she fought to find her centre.

A deep breath, hold then release. Feel the energy building up inside, filling your chest. Drive it down into your palm until it almost burns it's that intense and then...throw. Popping up from cover Valentina pulled back her right arm imagining a spear of biotics and threw. A shaft of biotic energy bursting from her and burning through the air, catching an alien in the chest and punching a large rag feted hole through it. Staggering with the sudden loss of energy she dropped back into cover, reaching for her gun to start helping pick off the enemy. Not for the first time today she wished Amelia had been with them, a sniper would have been super handy right now. Instead, she had a pistol. Pushing the thoughts away she lost herself in the steady familiar routine of a firefight.

The echo of the last few shots faded slowly as Valentina caught her breath. Vaulting over the rocks serving as her cover she picked her way across the uneven ground, avoiding the green hissing liquid running through the middle of the valley and jumping over to the shuttle. Catching sight of Harry she grinned in relief and clasped his offered arm.

"Cavalry to the rescue. Nice to see you guys. "

"Yeah. We're really knocking in the front door huh? You okay?" She stepped back for the last part, eyes sweeping over him then the others to check for herself. Hayes was looking a little shaken and worse for wear but otherwise, everybody seemed okay to her untrained eye. She couldn't see her father amongst them though.

"Still in one piece. Are you all that's left of shuttle two? " Harper questioned handing them both ammo supplies from the shuttle as Hayes and Harry went back to work on repairing it.

"No, we rescued Fisher and Greer....we were too late for Kirkland though." To her right she could see Kosta viciously kick one of the alien bodies at her words, his entire body radiating anger. Harper sighed eyes scanning the horizon. She opened her mouth to respond but Valentina cut in front of her, no patience for whatever platitude was going to come out.

"Where's my dad? "

"He went scouting ahead while we fixed the shuttle." A faint noise drifted towards them and Valentina looked up as a curved grey and green shuttle appeared over the mountains, aliens lining the open bay doors. The group threw themselves into cover just in time as the first group hit the ground.

Valentina let out a breath as the last alien fell, taking a moment to take stock of her body as the dust settled. An ache in her shoulder from catching a bullet than meant an impressive bruise would already be blossoming and an empty feeling in her core from using too much biotics energy without anything to replenish it. turning to speak to Harper she caught sight of Hayes. Barely standing with a hand pressed against her stomach, blood seeping out for between her fingers as she stared down at herself in shock.

"Shit Hayes is hit," Harry exclaimed reaching Hayes as her legs started to give out. Sinking to the floor with her as he grabbed the medigel canister from a pouch in his armour. As he started treatment the hairs on the back of Valentine's neck started to rise, the rocks around them started to lift off the floor moments later, small sparks of electric arching between them.

"Shit! strike coming. Move, move!" She exclaimed throwing herself backwards even as she realized there would be no way for Harry and Hayes to get out the way in time. Harper seemed to come to the same conclusion throwing herself in front of them and raising a hand to the sky. A bubble of biotic energy pulsed outwards from her hand enveloping them all at the last second, as lightning crashed down onto them. Harper's shield didn't waver at the onslaught and Valentina found herself jealous of Harper's control. She's always been better at big bursts of power. Precision and fine control had eluded her, even the fancy new L4 implant Grissom Academy had fitted her with.

"I didn’t know you were biotic. " Kosta broke the silence as Cora let the shield drop shaking her hand and stretching out her fingers in move Valentina recognised as trying to dispel the strange tingling burn sensation forcing too much biotic energy through one zone caused.

"Don’t worry. It’s not contagious. " Came Harper's deadpan response.

"Before they attacked, I… I managed to fix our comms." Hayes forced out voice high with pain. Valentina and Harper exchanged a look, both wondering if the mission body count was about to climb.

"You’re a lifesaver. Now just take it easy." Valentina brought up her omnitool, flicking open the radio communications and flicking through to the last channel she'd managed to speak with SAM on.

"Any AI hearing this?"

"QEC link established. Affirmative, Miss Harlow. The Pathfinder needs to speak with you." The vidscreen flickered to life, showing her father's face, his expression dark. It cleared slightly as they made eye contact through the screen.

"It's good to see you. What's our status?"

"Kirkland is dead. Hayes and Fisher are wounded. Greer's looking after Fisher and Harry's got Hayes. The rest of us are ready for action."

"Shuttles back in action," Cora added, leaning in over her shoulder to address the small screen. "Have you found something sir?"

"It's too risky to fly in these storms. But I think I can solve that problem."

"You can control the weather now?" Valentina injected, impatient with being given half the info as her dad was prone to do. He paused shooting her a look through the screen even as Harper shushed her.

"Rendezvous at my coordinates, we’ll- Damn it. They’ve spotted me." The screen went dark as Alec closed off the connection abruptly. A moment later it pinged with the coordinates. Harper swore moving back to grab as much ammo as she could carry, throwing a few to Kosta as she passed him and pressing a can of drink into Valentina palm. The luminous blue colour marking it as a biotic energy replacement drink favoured by the alliance.

Harper paused in front of Hayes. Harry had managed to move her into the shuttle before she'd lost consciousness. The wound on her stomach seemed to have stopped bleeding, but Valentina was familiar enough for stomach wounds to know time was limited if they were to get her home.

"Can you two manage alone? "

"I can keep her stable. For a while. "

"I'll radio Fisher and Greer, get them to come meet you here." Pulling up her Omni tool as she spoke, she quickly relayed the message, sending their coordinates. Catching Harper's eye with a nod when it was done.

"Let's make this quick. We have to get there before this storm hits. No detours." Harper stated already striding off as Kosta and Valentina fell in behind her.

\----

As they cleared the top of the outcrop, Harper pushed past them aiming for Alec's side.

"Sir..."

"Stay low," Alec warned gesturing with his hand to the level they should be on. Sinking into a crouch that made her glad of her short stature Valentina edged forwards until she could fully take in the scene in front of her. She'd been here before, having discovered it with Liam whilst performing recon earlier. But since then it seemed to have come alive, at least 20 of the aliens were in easy view, patrolling both inside and outside of the electric barrier they had in place. She was sure there’d be at least double that number inside if they were really unlucky perhaps triple.

"Who are these guys?" Liam asked in a harsh whisper, meeting her eye with a look that said I told you we had to stay away from this place. She pulled a face in return making him choke back a snort of laughter and earning them both a look for Alec.

"Visitors. Just like us. I don’t think they’re native to the planet."

"They’re not. One of their ships was downed by the lightning, they're bringing in food. We also found a lab, they've been studying this place. There's some kind of tech here, way older than everything else. Prothean kind of stuff. " Alec looked away from the base turning to meet her eye as she spoke. For the first time, Valentina could remember he looked proud. or perhaps it had a trick of the light, It was gone to soon to tell either way. He turned back to the base, hand lingering over his Omni tool as he watched the aliens.

"Good work. You actually did some scouting."

"Recon Specialist remember? You brought me with you to do this."Valentina scoffed, rolling her eyes at his back and ignoring the sharp look it earned her from Harper. Harper cut in quickly before Valentina could say more.

"Sir, you said you had an idea about the weather?"

"It’s the dark energy cloud the Hyperion hit. It’s affecting the whole planet, interfering with that…" The group followed Alec's gesture upwards, to where the base met the sky and seemed to be drawing it into itself. Something that looked almost like docile lighting swirled up and around it, disappearing into dark blue glowing clouds. It kind of looked like biotic energy Valentina thought.

"The tower is caught in a feedback loop with the cloud. Together, they’re disrupting the entire climate with undirected energy." Sam's voice came over their headsets attempting to explain what they were looking at.

"It would explain a cave we found. Plant life sheltered from the storm… from that tower." Valentina suggested voice unsure. All this unknown tech and energy was far more Amelia's expertise than hers.

"It’s a good bet. And I think if we can get in there and shut the tower down…"

"The lighting goes away." Liam finished voice brightening with understanding and hope.

"And the shuttle can get us out of here. In theory. We just have to get past them…" Alec paused, from experience she was sure he was calculating the odds. Not that it would stop him. Wouldn't stop her either. Ellen Ryder had always said to never tell them the odds, they'd only take it as a challenge.

"I've faced worse odds." Alec coughed out a laugh, and she'd put good money on him having been thinking the same thing. Shaking his head he turned to look at each of them in turn as he spoke.

"No illusions about this. It’ll be a nasty fight the whole way."

"Beats getting fried by lightning. But we risk turning a skirmish with these guys into something worse." Harper brought her gun up as she spoke, action betraying the hesitation in her words.

"I'm counting 20 dead by our hands currently, probably already in something worst territory with a race that shoots first." Valentina responded with a shrug.

"It’s them or us," Alec said with a tone of finality.

"Oh, it’s them. Problem is we’re outnumbered."

"I’ve been working on that. We just need to change the math." There was a smug note in Alec's voice as he spoke, fingers hovering over his Omni tool for a second before hitting a button. Explosions triggered at the base of every lightning pole sending them crashing to the ground and within seconds lightning was streaming across the shielding blowing it panel by panel. Alec wasted no time, jumping down in the valley and running towards the base, gunning down every alien he came across.

"Works for me!" Kosta grinned following Alec down the cliffside with a kind of manic energy Valentina was already starting to associate with him. Valentina met Harper's eye for a moment before they both jumped down and followed Alec's footsteps.

There had been a lot of firefights in Valentina's life, working private security in the traverse meant you got shot at daily, but this was on a whole other level. Somewhere behind her, she can feel Harper firing off biotic attacks, that strange static-like awareness of another's mass effect field tingling along her spine, and to her side, Kosta was almost roaring as he unloaded a clip into a massive alien holding what seemed to be the Andromeda equivalent of a machine gun. She could barely hear Sam's voice counting up to 100% decryption, but she hoped they'd reach it soon. Popping up from behind cover she threw a ball of biotics into a group of aliens scattering them across the ground but barely causing any lasting damage, drained as she was.

She didn't notice the alien sneaking up on her until it had her leg in its jaws. Screaming she dropped as it yanked at her leg, landing heavily on her arse and kicking out into the plated face of the alien dog with her free leg. Her pistol slid from her grasp as she scrambled for purchase as the beast pulled her out of cover. Summoning the last of her reserve she poured her biotics into her palm, fist coated in energy as she slammed it repeatedly into the creatures head hoping the sickening crack that resulted was from its plates and not her own bones. It released her leg but she kept the blows coming, only stopping when the thing was a bloody twitching mess beneath her and she became aware of the lack of shooting around her.

Looking up she saw a mass of alien bodies scattered across the platform. On the pathway beneath her Kosta was leant against a wall catching his breath, he caught her eye as she leaned over to check on him giving her a thumbs up. Harper was already back in position, standing guard for her father.

"Ah, damn—it's jammed! Valentina, I need your help over here." Valentina hissed as she forced her injured leg to bare her weight without limping. Trying to keep herself looking solid and uninjured as she made her way over. She'd be damned if she let Alec see her weak. Throwing her weight into the door next to him, together they forced it inch by painful inch into opening. As it slid into its tracks, columns seemed to grow out of the ground, topped with glowing orbs that bathed the inside in a pale blue light. Otherwise, the chamber looked empty.

"What's the plan here? We hit a switch and bam no more storms? that seems a little too convenient." She queried following as Alec went deeper into the room.

"I don’t know yet. SAM’s decoded part of the language. Now we’ll see if I can have a conversation." Valentina raised a brow at his words, shaking her head.

"Well if you're lucky it'll have an AI. You a good father to those." Alec flinched at her words turning to give her a look she couldn’t place.

“One daughter a powerful biotic, with the best training and implant available who successfully lead a team of private security team in the traverse. The other a highly trained sniper handpicked to work in the mars archive...I don’t think I did too bad”

“Sure as a commanding officer you were great. We needed a father.” She shrugged as she finished, her words light. This wound has old and scarred over, for the most part only bothering her when she stood in her father's shadow.

He had nothing to say to that, both of them knew he’d never win any father of the year awards. Instead, he moved on gesturing for her to stay as he moved to stand in the centre of the chamber seemingly looking at something. Seconds pass as nothing happened until suddenly a bright light appears in front of him, settling into a glowing triangle of lines and dots and figures of a language she doesn't recognise and her translator can't match. Slowly Alec raised a hand towards it and as his fingers meet the light it changed, oranges ripples following his movements. The building rumbles, like a generator turning on. Valentina ran back towards the entrance looking up as the cloud of energy disapparates into the sky. The sun even starts to peer out from behind the clouds.

"It's like the end of a cheesy disaster movie." She laughs, turning to grin at Alec as he appears at her shoulder.

"Not quite yet. We still have a while to go before this is new earth. But it's a start." A pause before he placed a heavy hand on her shoulder. "You did good kid."

"Of course I did. I always do. But this is your victory."

"SAM had a little something to do with it."

"It was simply a matter of linguistics. Though I am pleased to have..." A deep grating noise cut through SAM's voice, the platform trembling. Valentina and Alec turned almost as one to face the chamber just as an explosion sounded from somewhere inside the tower. The floor and walls blasted outwards throwing them both into the air as the tower started to collapse around them. Valentina hit the floor with enough force to knock the wind out of her, scrambling for purchase as she fell rapidly towards the abyss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took so long, but it's a decent size at least. From now on the scene should be less cut and paste for the game.


End file.
